Well hey there, cats, and kittens, this is Josh Lyman Maggie coming at you with your 2 'o clock briefing weekly dose of re-read! (sorry, I've been a huge West Wing kick lately. Couldn't resist)
Despite several misadventures with my ancient car in the past few days, my spirits were irresistibly buoyed by the Help Haiti Heal event, a multi-fandom auction initiative which has raised over $42,000 so far (!!!!!). You can still donate until the end of this week, so do what you can!! There are some totally kickin' prizes up for grabs! I was also so excited to see HHH promoted on another geek site I frequent, tor.com. Good lord, I love being a nerd.
This week's post covers PoA chapters 7 & 8. Here we'll learn things about people's deep-seated fears, realize Severus Snape looks dashing in long green dress, and that Peeves is rather useless as an anti-break-in alarm. Usual guidelines apply: spoilers for all seven novels abound, so if you haven't read, don't read.
Below: a secret plan to fight inflation! Or, perhaps, ya know, the Post!
Chapter Seven: The Boggart in the Wardrobe
What Happens:
Malfoy finally returns to Potions class, where he takes full advantage of his "injuries" to make Harry and Ron's lives difficult. (In other news, the sky is blue.) Snape is in full venomous form, worse than usual. Seamus mentions that Sirius Black was sighted not far from Hogwarts. After class Ron and Harry seem to lose track of Hermione, who turns up just in time for lunch coming from an entirely different direction. They're puzzled but she refuses to talk about it.
In Defense Against the Dark Arts, Lupin impresses the students by dispensing with Peeves' usual annoyance and asking the students to put their textbooks away. In the staffroom they have a hands-on lesson fighting a boggart. Snape arrives and manages to berate both Neville and Lupin in a single breath. Neville is predictably crushed, but Lupin lets him be the first to demonstrate boggart-fighting. Putting Boggart-Snape in Mrs. Longbotttom's clothing is probably one of the cleverest things Neville has ever done, and he cheers up at once. The students line up and attack the boggart one by one. Harry notices that the boggart becomes a "silvery orb" when it's in front of Lupin. Harry is ready to take on the boggart, expecting it to materialize as a dementor, but Lupin blocks him before he gets the chance.
Commentary:
This is probably up there as one of your "favorite chapters ever." It certainly is for me, probably because I have such a crush on Remus John Lupin. As we discussed last time, some of the teachers at Hogwarts have dubious teaching credentials, but Lupin is certainly not among them. Let's add up the points: He immediately builds rapport with the students by defeating Peeves, a much-maligned part of their school experience. He refuses to let Snape bully Neville, but stands up for the poor kid and boosts his confidence by helping him succeed in front of his peers (and making everyone laugh). He lets almost everyone have a hands-on experience in his subject. In short, he's the antithesis of Dolores Umbridge. I had a few teachers who were like Lupin in my high school and college years, and I'm so grateful. We should all be so lucky!
This is such a fun chapter because it's full of action and laughter, but there are a few important points to keep in mind before we move on:
- Snape's animosity toward Lupin is beyond the usual "Snape dislikes everyone" and rather more like "Snape hates this particular person with a deep-seated fierceness."
- I know there are lots of ardent Snape fans out there, and I don't deny that the guy had a rough life. But his abuse of Neville is *really* pronounced here, more than usual. Poor Neville. I'm so glad the boggart provided such a convenient outlet for revenge.
- I was surprised at how many of the students were afraid of magical beings like mummies and banshees. I mean, I've never had a run-in with either one, and maybe I'm just too dense from living as a Muggle all these years... but my boggart would be akin to Mrs. Weasley's (harm coming to my family and friends), or a more "conceptual" one like Hermione (whose boggart was "failing everything.") Then again, I'm an old fogey, not a spry thirteen-year-old. What would your boggart be?
Chapter Eight: The Flight of the Fat Lady
What Happens:
The school year hums along. Defense Against the Dark Arts classes continue to go well, with more interactive lessons about dangerous Dark creatures. Hagrid's class, on the other hand, takes a marked turn for the worse. After the hippogriff catastrophe, the students spends each class looking a flobberworms. Divination isn't much better, and Harry is increasingly fed up with Trelawney's predictions of doom. Hermione continues being skeptical, even when Lavender Brown's gets the news that her baby rabbit was killed. Quidditch training begins, which is always fun and takes Harry's mind off classes. Harry notes that Captain Oliver Wood is a bit manic about winning this year, since it's his last year at school.
Ron and Hermione's pets --and thus Ron and Hermione -- are rather at odds, which is making things a little awkward for the group dynamic. The first Hogsmeade weekend is coming up at the end of October, but Harry still doesn't have a signed form. Ron encourages Harry to ask McGonagall for permission. Predictably, she refuses, and Harry is stuck at Hogwarts while all his fellow third-years visit the village. He wanders around, feeling a bit sorry for himself, until he runs into Lupin. Lupin invites Harry to help him with a newly-delivered grindylow, and they have a cup of tea and chat about the boggart lesson. During their tea, Snape comes in a gives Lupin a foul-smelling potion, which Lupin drinks straight away.
Hermione, Ron, and the others return from Hogsmeade full of sweets and fascinating stories about the village. After the Halloween feast, all the student are ready for a nice turn-in... but the portrait hole is slashed and the Fat Lady is missing. Peeves, the sole witness, grins oily. "Nasty temper he's got, that Sirius Black."
Commentary:
Ooh, now we're cooking! There are lots of little things in the chapter laying groundwork for later.
I'm always in two minds about Hermione's reaction to the demise of Binky the Rabbit. On the one hand, poor Lavendar! I've never owned a rabbit, but one of my friends did when I was little, and they sure are adorable. It would be terrible to find out that your pet expired before its time. So maybe sympathy is the best choice. But... Hermione is right, of course. Lavender is stretching the prediction thing a little too far, for all the reasons Hermione lists. Though, this might not be the best moment to explain that logic. Oh well, chalk it up to another example of Hermione's brilliance... which accounts for her occasional social ineptitude. And as silly as it seems, this little scene is one of a few prior to Half-Blood Prince in which Lavender isn't just a background character. Already we know she has a flair for the dramatic, which will become very important to a certain red-headed young gentleman about three years down the line.
One of the most important things in this chapter is Harry and Lupin's little tête-a-tête over tea. It sets up the Wolfsbane Potion, for one thing, and Harry and Lupin's mentoring relationship. I do find it a little odd, though, that Lupin doesn't even mention Lily and James at this point. Maybe he and Harry just aren't that close yet? Also, as Lupin will point out in Half-Blood Prince, Snape was incredibly decent to make the Wolfsbane Potion (or maybe he did it under Dumbledore's orders? I can't remember, but I don't think so). Even though I go back and forth about my respect/dislike for Snape, this is certainly an example of him being a Decent Fellow, even though he's angsty.
Sirius tried to get into the Gryffindor common room! Yikes! At this point, of course, Harry and the first-time readers think Sirius is an enemy, but boy, the guy is really not helping matters with this sort of behavior. If you are trying to prove your innocence, attacking anthropomorphic objects just isn't going to get you points in a Mr. Congeniality contest. But... he's a little cracked, after all. Not mad like other Azkaban prisoners, maybe, but that long in a wretched prison among dementors can't be good for anybody.
Poor Fat Lady. But um... if Peeves was floating there watching the whole thing, why 1) didn't he raise an alarm? and 2) did he see Sirius transform from Animagus to man? And if so, why didn't he tell Dumbledore that little tidbit of information? Based on his behavior in OotP and DH, Peeve is clearly loyal to the school, but that loyalty doesn't seem to do much good except in dire situations. Hmm.
That's all for now! See you next week!
First of all, I want to marry Remus John Lupin. Or someone like him. Seriously. Maybe sans lycanthropy. Therefore, it is unsurprising that two of my favorite scenes involve him: the boggart scene and the first Harry and Lupin tete-a-tete.
ReplyDeleteI can't add anything further to your commentary on those scenes or on Lupin. You've covered the topics marvelously!
But I do have a couple of cents to add about Sirius. His actions toward the Fat Lady go a long way to implicate him through a majority of PoA, but I can't understand them from the perspective of Sirius-is-an-innocent-man. He passed through that portrait hole so many times that I can't believe that he would actually expect to gain anything by slashing the portrait. So, the only remaining explanation is excessive frustration. I know Sirius is a little bit crazy after his stint in Azkaban (who wouldn't be?), but I don't remember any further evidence in PoA, GoF, and OotP about Sirius having an anger issue. Although Sirius appears far to ready to use violence when blocked by the Fat Lady, he is not so hasty to cause serious damage even when Pettigrew is revealed. Besides, Sirius has enough Slytherin in him to take advantage of that extremely useful Where in the World Is Sirius Black? mystique. I have a hard time reconciling Sirius' actions in this chapter with what I know about him.